On Wednesday, March 15 th, a small but significant event took place on the grounds of Belle Haven Elementary School. Ravenswood Family Health Center (RFHC) wanted to publicly thank Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital for donating a mobile health van to Ravenswood to continue the tradition that LPCH started when it put medical services on wheels and brought them to school sites here in East Palo Alto and Belle Haven.

Cynthia Haines, LPCH Senior VP Strategy and Business Development, Sherri Sager, LPCH Chief Government Relations Officer, Maria De La Vega, Superintendent Ravenswood City School District, Candace Roney, Executive Director, LPCH Community Partnerships and Luisa Buada, CEO, Ravenswood Community Health Center.

Behind the Scene:

Even while the speakers outside the van were talking about the benefits of the mobile clinic to the community, RFHC’s Nurse Practitioner Deborah Heuerman was inside examining a boy whose father brought him to the van for a school physical. “He was very blue and he wasn’t oxygenating well,” said Heuerman. It turned out that he had a serious heart condition and was sent directly to Stanford emergency where he could by seen by a Packard pediatric cardiology specialist. Now he’s back under the care of RFHC’s pediatricians and is receiving excellent ongoing care. (In fact, RFHC’s pediatric providers come from LPCH and are contracted to RFHC.)

That afternoon a mother brought her 7 and 9 year old children for the physical exam required for school enrollment. The mother told the nurse practitioner that she was disabled in an auto accident and that the father died last year. Her children’s small frames indicated they were undernourished. Before the family left, Heuerman referred her to RFHC’s Pediatric Social Worker who has since linked her to resources for housing and food.

When asked why a mobile clinic is needed, Heureman observed, “More than 50% of the patients we see on the van are new immigrants.” The District Nurse for Ravenswood City School District, Laurie Bauer, confirmed that the district has as many as 30 new enrollments each month. She said that with the combined resources of the mobile clinic and RFHC’s drop-in immunization clinic, the school district has turned immunization compliance around from 25% at the low point to nearly 100%.

The Ravenswood Mobile Health Clinic provides primary care services at different school sites in the district twice a week. Every Thursday, the mobile clinic goes out to various locations to offer health care to the homeless and others that do not have a medical home.

RMHC August Schedule: